Posts Tagged ‘California’

Press Release – Urlich Sauter

Sunday, May 30th, 2010

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

To:   All Art,  Music and Community Editors, Piano Music Lovers

June 3rd and 4th  2010, San Diego: Come and Meet Carl Ulrich SauterMaster Piano Builder, Whose Family Name Still Appears On Pianos After 192 Years.

PianoSD.com is pleased to announce the visit to San Diego of the Sauter company’s owner and operator, Carl Ulrich Sauter.  Mr. Sauter’s name appears on every piano manufactured by the Sauter Pianoforte Manufactur Company which has the tradition of building pianos since 1819—the longest family owned piano company in the world.  “Its survival is owed to the instruments built with Tradition, Quality & Style.” describes Ric Overton of Piano SD. “Mr. Sauter is coming to insure the integrity of the Sauter name, his very own, in North America.”

Relatively new in San Diego, Sauter started with its young founder assisting in the building of pianos for Ludwig van Beethoven. Since then, the piano company has remained in the family, carried the family name and continued with its vast knowledge of piano style and construction throughout many decades.   While the oldest, it is also innovative.  By combining visual sophistication and unequal sound productions, Sauter is definitely a leader.

Sauter Pianos are known for their unique and superb designs.In the words of Carl Ulrich Sauter himself: “We just do not care about phony marketing strategies and target groups. We follow our dream to build the best upright or grand piano of the world and ensure that today there is a broad choice of real instruments that are far superior to the corporate cookie cutter manufacturers.”   Sauter pianos qualify in every way among the best-made pianos in the world.   Caring musicians select the brand for its sound qualities.

Ric Overton, owner of Piano SD, will host a public meeting for Mr. Sauter on June 3, and a chapter meeting of Piano Technical Guild on June 4.   “At PianoSD.com”, says Overton, “we strive to make people happy and make music fun. With a strong emphasis on music education, we want people to understand what they are buying and understand music. Our goal is to make PianoSD.com a place where Music, Education and the Arts come together, this is why we are delighted to host Mr. Sauter and have everyone meet the man who leads the oldest piano manufacturer that still operates under its family name.”

Contact Information

Ric Overton
Owner, PianoSD.com

Cleaning Your Piano

Tuesday, May 25th, 2010

Cleaning is never fun and easy but, it is something that must be done from time to time.

What we use in the store is a polish that is designed specifically for the high polish pianos.  Although the easiest and simplest way to do the cleaning is by using a very soft and lintless cloth like a cheesecloth or old soft T-shirt works wonders.  I say to dampen the cloth a little but only to the smallest extent and my adage is to wash your hands, rinse the soap off well and then dry them on the cloth that you are going to use to dust.  In other words very lightly damp.

Dust Bunnies

If your piano has a wood grain or a satin finish then do the same thing except be sure to wipe with the grain of the wood.  NEVER EVER use furniture polish to clean your piano.  It is not good for the piano and it will take a long time to get the residue off.

Use the same technique when wiping off your keys.  DO NOT use polish or cleaner of any kind EVER to clean your keys.  If they are ivory this is not good at all because in many cases it will cause the ivory to absorb the polish and the keys will simply come off.

Here’s the tricky part.  If you have a grand piano dust will inevitably get onto the soundboard of the piano (that piece of wood that is under the big metal plate) and if you are like me at all this will make you insane.  Please do not attempt to clean that yourself.  Call a certified technician which you can find at www.PTG.org and tell them you need to clean your soundboard and have your piano tuned.  Paul McCloud at Accutone Piano Tuning www.pianoservsd.com is the guy we use here at PianoSD.com in Mission Valley in San Diego, California.

If you live in a particular humid area of San Diego for example like Carlsbad or La Jolla, you will notice that the dust will “stick” to the soundboard a little more than if you live in a drier climate like Rancho Santa Fe or San Marcos.  In the cases that the climate is a little drier you will notice that the dust gets in quicker but is a little easier removed.  However, in either case please call a certified tech to come out to do the work at his next tuning, but, let him know when you set your appointment that your piano needs a thourough cleaning that way he is prepared.

If you need some polish that is designed specifically for the piano you can find it here at PianoSD.com.

Drop by and say hello sometime we would love to meet you.

Ric Overton

Real or Fake ?

Monday, May 24th, 2010

I hear more than my share of talk about real or fake pianos.  Some people have actually commented that they don’t like fake pianos.  They were talking of course about digital pianos. 

Although there are certainly some arguments about accoustic vs. digital pianos, there are still people who would prefer accoustic pianos over digital pianos.  I recently had a discussion with a gentleman from Carlsbad who told me that he was convinced that the digital piano was a terrible thing to learn on – that is until he actually sat down and played one.  He was so overjoyed with the digital piano that he purchased one on the spot.

We have many piano teachers who are turning to digital now too.  Teachers are finding many ways to use digital that was never possible before.  You can record, use computer functions to help you compose, always in perfect pitch, automatic transpose, easily transportable, heat and humidity dont effect it at all, several voices to choose from which give you the capabilities to play and entire orchestra score with recording and really the list goes on.

 httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KpnsZKmuO0Q

Of course, the accoustic piano will never disappear but, we are finding that more and more people are turning to digital pianos as an alternative for use with more demanding music that is being performed today.

The touch is very realistic and the sound is incredible.  I know when I was first introduced to the idea of digital piano I was not completely sold, however, once I understood the basics of how digitals operated I was just absolutley thrilled with the possibilities that the digital world opened to me. 

We have customers from many parts of  San Diego such as Rancho Santa Fe, La Jolla and San Marcos that have become real fans of the Roland digital pianos because of thier realism in touch, tone and clarity of sound.  More information can be found at www.RolandUS.com

If you have any questions or comments feel free to let me know and I will try to help you.  Feel free to stop by our store located in the heart of Mission Valley in San Diego, California.

Stop by and see us we would love to meet you.

Ric Overton

A Guide: What Is Piano Voicing?

Sunday, May 23rd, 2010

I wanted to take a few minutes and talk about voicing on the piano.

When you purchase a new piano you will find nuances about your piano that make it individual.  The tone of the piano is generally the one thing that stands out immediately.  Perhaps you like a brighter sound or more mellow sound a full sound or more thin sound.  It all depends on you and your likes.  I happen to lean to a tone  that is round and full but at the same time a little more stable than the next person.

Generally, all of the things I have just spoken about can be dealt with through a process called voicing.  Voicing involves the shaping of hammers, and addressing the density of the felts on the hammers.  Hammers have an ideal shape.  Each hammer should strike each one of the strings in their particular set.  In other words, each note has either one, two or three strings.  When the hammer comes up to strike the string each string should be struck in order to hear the complete sound of the intended note.

The hardness of the hammers will have a huge effect on the tone as well.  Once we have been able to determine your taste then we must set the hardness of each hammer.  If the hammer is harder then we have to pin the hammer.  We use a device that actually goes into the hammer itself and then moved around a little to seperate the wools in the hammer and actually make it less dense to produce a more mellow tone.  If the hammer is softer then we have to iron the hammer making the wools more dense and creating a more bright sound.

Paul McCloud of Accutone Piano Tuning www.pianoservsd.com does a lot of voicing for us.  We want the piano to sound very good when the cusomter makes their initial trip into PianoSD.com in Mission Valley, San Diego, California.  After the sale if we need to make some changes then we can.  Its often hard to drive from La Jolla or Rancho Santa Fe to go through this process so we can actually do this in a persons home in a short amount of time.

The differences in humidity, heat and sunlight can also techinically have an effect on the voicing of the piano too.  If you live in Carlsbad as opposed to San Marcos you may need to make a certain amount of allowances for that as well.  Only a technician can decide that for you.

The Standard of Excellence

In any case, voicing of your hammers should never ever be attempted by someone without experience so a qualified technician should be able to help you.  If you are in San Diego area I of course, would suggest Accutone Piano Tuning at www.pianoservsd.com of you can visit www.PTG.org to find a technician in your area.

Stop by the store sometime, we would love to meet you.

Ric Overton

How do you enjoy music, right or wrong ?

Sunday, May 16th, 2010

For many years I have been a fan of gospel music.  I love four part harmony and really enjoy the sounds of 4 professional voices that sing on pitch in harmony correctly.

Picture from the Four Part Harmony.

As most of you know, I am from the South.  Of course, gospel music was part of our culture and church on Sunday morning, but, for me it was much more than that.  I still remember the day that it all finally made sense to me.  I was about 6 or 7 (not telling you the year) and my mom put an album (yes the round black record thing that played on a stereo system called an LP) of a group that I have loved for many years called The Happy Goodman Family.  I was forever lost to the sound.

I lived, drank and ate the Goodman Family.  I loved the music they sang and  I loved the songs.  I soon began to learn to play the piano and threw myself into this style of playing.  By the time I was 15 or 16 I was traveling with a gospel group that traveled from Florida to Michigan and most of the spots in between.  I was in heaven.

Goodmans 1962

Goodmans 1962

This afternoon one of our associates at PianoSD.com in Mission Valley in San Diego, California was by the store and we were talking about different things and I very seriously said, ” I have never understood, nor does it make sense how anybody could listen to The Goodmans and not be totally blown away at the talent and enjoy the sound”  to which he laughingly responded, “Do you enjoy all types of music as much as you do gospel?” of course I quickly responded “NO”.

We had a discussion about the rights and wrongs of peoples opinions and why and how they enjoy what they enjoy.  It dawned on me that enjoying music from bluegrass music, gospel music, country music, rock music, jazz music, classical music and even perhaps rap music  is a matter of personal taste and not right or wrong.

I guess that most of us think of classical music as the most proper way to play and opera as the proper way to sing but, if we really get to the heart of the matter the right music to enjoy is the music that you like the best and the one that makes you the happiest when you listen to it.

Music shapes our lives, feelings, emotions and can change your attitude quicker than  any other influence.  Music is a joy on every level.  Yes, some may enjoy one type of music over the other while the next would prefer a different genre of music.

I hope you enjoy “My Music” and send me yours at Ric@PianoSD.com and I will try and include it in upcoming features.

We opened PianoSD to be a place where people could come together and make music and have fun making music.  PianoSD School of Music tries to educate people to have fun making music but at the same time do it in such a way that they learn the proper way to make music and have fun doing it.

Drop by and see us sometime we would love to meet you.

Ric Overton

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